Parenting

I'm not a parent myself. But I can relate to how difficult it is.

It's always a love/hate relationship
with them.
Tears of joy fill the void
of words
when they arrive.
"God's gift" is the only suitable phrase
to describe
the feeling of the moment.
But as time goes by, those gifts
begin to feel like
those Christmas and anniversary gifts
cluttering the closet.
With each painful sacrifice 
you make toward them, without even
an inkling of love in return, you begin
asking yourself honest questions,
like if it really was worth it
in the beginning.
Until you both feel like
two castaways stranded by fate
on a deserted island,
you needing them for survival
as much as
they needing you, if not more so,
with the only feasible compromise
being for both parties
to learn to coexist with each other
if you're going to get through
this thing
in the long run.